MORAL DILEMMA

AND MORAL ASSUMPTIONS

Presented by:

Louella Mikka S. Tattao, LPT, CHRA, MAGC

MORAL DILEMMA
ACTIVATING PRIOR LEARNING:
A student gets a warning from parents that getting into a
relationship and getting pregnant while studying will mean
discontinuance of all the support to continue her studies. Despite
such warnings, the student disobeyed her parents and is now two
months pregnant. She is afraid to tell her parents about her
situation because otherwise her parents will tell her to stop
studying. But she wants to finish her studies. What is she going to
do?
GUIDING QUESTIONS:

1. Will you resort to abortion so that you can continue

your studies or tell your parents about your present
situation and have the tendency to stop your
schooling? Explain your answer.
 MORAL dilemma
 is a situation of conflict. This occurs when
two moral points are in conflict and are
confused. Or, it is a “more complicated
situation wherein one is torn between
choosing one of two goods and choosing
between the lesser of two evils
 MORAL dilemma
 A moral dilemma is a difficult situation in
which you have to choose between two or
more alternatives.
 Example: He was faced with the dilemma of
whether or not to choose between her father
and mother.
MORAL dilemma
is also referred to as
an Ethical Dilemma.
Lets study the case:
Let us consider the situation of a poor mother whose
daughter is hungry but her situation does not permit her to
buy her daughter the food she needs. But she can steal food
so that her daughter can eat. What would be her choice?
Allow her daughter to go hungry or steal food for her to be
able to eat?
 Characterization of
moral dilemma:

1.Moral dilemmas are situations where the moral agent can

choose between two or more alternatives but honor only
one of them.
2.Moral dilemmas are present situations where the tension
between moral values and duties is more or less on equal
footing.
 What do we do when faced with
moral dilemma

 We need to decide based on our best

judgment or choose based on the principle of
lesser evil or greater good or urgency.
3 DIFFERENT LEVELS OF MORAL DILEMMA
 3 DIFFERENT LEVELS OF MORAL DILEMMA

1.Personal Dilemma
2.Organizational Dilemma
3. Structural Dilemma
 Personal dilemma

 pertains to choices affecting the individual

himself or herself.

 Personal dilemma may also involve problems

between individuals
Example:

 You caught the boyfriend of your best

friend cheating on her. What will you do?
 Organizational dilemma

 The organizational dilemma has a broader

scope and would tend to affect every member
of the organization. Solutions arrived at also
have an impact on the life of each member.
 Examples of this type of dilemma would refer
to business, medical and public sector/company
situation.
Example:
In a company, two very efficient employees who are both
married get involved in a relationship. Company regulations
sanction married individuals who are involved in illegitimate
relationships. Having known about such relationship, what
should the other employees do about it?
 Structural dilemma

 This dilemma would include an entire network

of an institution and operative theoretical
paradigm.
 It has the broadest scope of influence and
impact of the three levels, the people where the
law would be applied, the municipalities and
the entire country.
Example:

The approval of the Sim Card Registration.

 ACTIVITY
Recall or think of a situation where you
experience moral dilemma.
MORAL ASSUMPTIONS
 MORALs
Morals are a system of beliefs that is taught for
deciding good or bad as opposed to coming from
within and are emotionally related for deciding right
or wrong. Morals have more social value and
acceptance than values, with a person being judged
more for their moral character than their values.
 assumptions
long-learnt, automatic responses and established opinions.
We are, ourselves, almost always unaware of the nature of
our own basic assumptions, but they are enacted through our
behavior – what we say and do.
 Example

The company or organization that hired me assumes that I

will perform the tasks for which I was hired. For that reason,
the company pays me for the services I render to it. The
company assumes that I am doing my job. If it does not, there
is no reason for it to keep me and pay me.
TWO ELEMENTS OF assumptions

• ASSUMPTION AS REASONS
• ASSUMPTION AS FREEDOM
 assumption is REASON

 Reason is the first element of a human act. A person is a thinking

being. By that, he or she is aware of the purpose of his or her action.

 Meaning, the person is also aware of the effects of the act. In other
words, the person can make judgment whether an action is right or
wrong. Through reason, one can assess the rightness or the wrongness
of an act.
 TYPES OF REASONS

1. Inductive Reasoning
2. Deductive Reasoning
 TYPES OF REASONS

1. Inductive Reasoning

Inductive reasoning is the process of reasoning from specifics to a

general conclusion related to those specifics. You have a series of
facts and/or observations. From all of this data you make a
conclusion or as the graphic above calls it, a "General Rule." Inductive
reasoning allows humans to create generalizations about people,
events, and things in their environment.
 TYPES OF INDUCTIVE REASONING
1. Example
2. Cause
3. Sign
4. Comparison
5. Authority
 TYPES OF INDUCTIVE REASONING
1. Example Reasoning
Example Reasoning involves using specific instances as a basis for
making a valid conclusion. In this approach, specific instances 1, 2,
and 3 lead to a generalized conclusion about the whole situation.

For example: I have a Sony television, a Sony stereo, a Sony car

radio, a Sony video system, and they all work well.
 TYPES OF INDUCTIVE REASONING
2. Cause Reasoning
is based on the idea that for every action there is a reaction.
Stated very simply, a cause is anything that is directly responsible
for producing something else, usually termed the effect.

For example: You did well on a test because you studied two days
in advance.
 TYPES OF INDUCTIVE REASONING
3. Sign Reasoning
involves inferring a connection between two related situations.
The theory is that the presence or absence of one indicates the
presence or absence of the other. In other words, the presence of
an attribute is a signal that something else, the substance, exists.

For example: A flag is flying at half-staff. is a sign that that there

has been a tragedy or a significant person has died.
 TYPES OF INDUCTIVE REASONING

4. Comparison Reasoning

is also known as reasoning by analogy. This type of reasoning

involves drawing comparisons between two similar things, and
concluding that, because of the similarities involved, what is
correct about one is also correct of the other.
 TYPES OF INDUCTIVE REASONING

5. Reasoning from Authority

is used when a person argues that a particular claim is justified,
because, it is held or advocated by a credible source. That credible
source can be a person or organization. Basically, the authority
possesses some credentials that qualify the source as an
authority. Thus, you accept the argument because someone you
feel is an authority tells you so.
 TYPES OF REASONS

2. Deductive Reasoning

is the process of reasoning from general statements,

or rules, to a certain, specific, and logical conclusion.
 assumption is freedom
 An act is considered human act with moral responsibility
when it is undertaken on the basis of free choice or with a
sense of freedom. Without the element of freedom, no
amount of explanation can declare someone morally
responsible over the act.
THANK YOU!